Students who have a cumulative GPA of at least 3.7 in POE courses taken at The College of Idaho are eligible to apply for departmental honors. Eligible students will meet individually with the professor leading the senior seminar to discuss departmental expectations regarding an honors paper to be written during the senior seminar. The standards for achieving honors are high. In addition to high-quality composition, papers must demonstrate intellectual rigor and creativity, excellent expression of the student's voice, and an exceptional literature review and bibliography appropriate to the paper. Students who seek honors will have the final draft of their senior papers evaluated by all faculty members of the Political Economy Department. Upon consensus by all departmental faculty that the student's paper is deserving of such recognition, the student will graduate with departmental honors.

Foreign Language Requirement

Students pursuing an International Political Economy major can satisfy this requirement through one of following options: (1) successful completion of two intermediate-level college semester courses in a foreign language or a PEAK minor from the Modern Foreign Languages Department; (2) passing a standardized intermediate-level foreign language examination; (3) successful completion of multiple foreign language courses from an approved study abroad program as determined by the Department of Political Economy; or (4) successful completion of the IPE major as an international student whose home language is not English.

Peak Profile

“I’ve always sought education that brings different viewpoints together. Through Political Economy and my PEAK minors, I have the breadth of knowledge I need, as well as the close relationships that make C of I special."

Yotes in the field

This summer, a group of student researchers and faculty members from The College of Idaho will embark on a three-week trip to the Thailand-Myanmar border to document the experiences of Dara’ang refugees in the area — a trip financed by a competitive $35,000 ASIANetwork-Freeman Student-Faculty Fellows Grant.

Why C of I: Political EconomyTwo Programs in One

The C of I does not treat political science and economics as two separate disciplines. We believe it is superior to study the two together, analyzing how economics affect politics while studying the effects government policies have on the economy.